Though his theories were quickly invalidated by the European medical profession, they were taken up elsewhere, serving the penal machinery of countries that criminalize same-sex conduct but find themselves at a loss to produce “evidence” when most arrests are based on rumors or mere suspicion. Theories behind such tests date back to an 1857 treatise by the French doctor Augustin Ambroise Tardieu, who thought he could identify signs of “habitual pederasty,” such as “funnel-shaped deformation of the anus” and the “relaxation of the sphincter.” The type of examination that Kais was subjected to flies in the face of modern forensic medicine. The medical report by the doctor who forcibly sodomized Kais purported to demonstrate that Kais had previously engaged in anal sex, in violation of Tunisia’s sodomy law.
But it was also a legally sanctioned procedure, designed to produce evidence to submit in court. What Kais, 21, experienced was a form of sexual assault, pure and simple. Held down, Kais was helpless as a doctor forcibly inserted a finger - and then a tube - into his anus. “Kais” cannot forget the day last December when two police officers in Kairouan, Tunisia, forced him onto an examination table in a doctor’s office, one pushing him onto his knees and pulling down his trousers, the other holding his arms.
